David De Gea’s Renaissance At Fiorentina

It is fairly unusual for an elite footballer to take a year out and comeback to top tier, first team football.

David de Gea left Manchester United in June 2023 after his contract expired. Many seen the Spanish goalkeeper as a busted flush as he stayed on the free agency market. Talks would fall through or the goalie would reject the idea of going to another Premier League club due to his loyalties to United (Source Goal.com).

Eye brows were then raised when it was announced that De Gea had agreed to join ACF Fiorentina on a one year deal (Via TNT Sports). Those eye brows certainly didn’t come down when the thirty-three year old conceded three in his debut to Puskas FC Academy at the Stadio Artemio Franchi. David would soon redeem himself in his next appearance against the Hungarians when he saved two point blank efforts before bagging his side a place in the next round of the UEFA Conference League with a shootout save.

De Gea would also conceded three in his Serie A debut against Gian Piero Gasperini’s Atalanta side in a 3-2 defeat but that was the Viola’s last league loss with the Spaniard in between the sticks as they have since went seven league fixtures without tasting defeat.

In his eight Serie A outings, David has managed to keep four cleansheets and Fiorentina currently boast the joint third best defensive record in Italy’s top flight. On average he’s making over three saves per game and not just routine ones either.

De Gea has always been a fine shot-stopper but his gap year may have caused rustiness to creep in but that hasn’t been the case. He produced two great stops from penalties in his side’s victory over AC Milan, the first saw him dive low to his left before pushing the ball away from his goal and then the second one had De Gea go down to the opposite corned and firmly palm away a Tammy Abraham spot kick. Then on the 85th minute the goalie produced another magnificent stop to help his side beat Milan in Florence.

Last week the 45 capped Spanish star produced yet another last gasp match winning save to prevent Genoa from stealing a draw at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris. Genoa had a freekick in the 91st minute, the cross into the box was a perfect one. Mexican defender Johan Vasquez expertly guided the ball towards Fiorentina’s top corner with his resuting header. It seemed destined to go in until David de Gea managed to get his finger tips to the ball and steer it away from his goal-line.

Fiorentina under new boss Raffaele Palladino are now sitting in fourth paced in the league standings. The Viola have picked up quite a few new faces during the summer transfer market and a lot of those seem to have a point to prove, none more so than De Gea, and they look like a very hungry team and one that enjoys the winning feeling.

Former Fiorentina keeper Alex Manninger also agrees that De Gea has kept his hunger after his year off (Via Football Italia):

“He’s an experienced keeper. He took a sabbatical, and it worked well,” 

“He still has the hunger, which is essential to a goalkeeper. You must have a great keeper to be up there in the table.”

In a few days Fiorentina’s goalkeeper will turn thirty-four years of age but that is still a prime period for a goalie. It’s funny but that year out might have rejuvenated De Gea and given him a new appreciation and hunger for the game.

The renaissance of the Spanish shot-stopper might just give Firenze a new hero called David!

 

Napoli’s Romelu Lukaku Already Back To His Best Under Conte

Some managers just know how to get the best out of certain players.

When Antonio Conte took over the SSC Napoli job in in the summer he made it clear he wanted to bring in Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku.

The two worked together at Inter Milan, winning the Scudetto in the 2020-21 season with Lukaku bagging twenty-four Serie A goals in thirty-six appearances. Since that dream campaign both have struggled as Conte was humbled at Tottenham Hotspur and Lukaku playing for three different clubs in the last three seasons.

Yet as soon as they started working together again, Napoli’s fortune changed for the better.

It was always going to be a tough task for any forward to replace the prolific Vector Osimhen, who helped Napoli become Italian champions again in 2023, but Romelu has come in and settled in straight away.

People have often misjudged the Belgian international. Some believe he can’t work hard, that he’s raw and unintelligent, that he’ll just score goals and can’t do much else. Those assertions are outdated and don’t represent the talented footballer that currently wears Napoli’s number eleven jersey.

In his first five outings for the Partenopei, the thirty-one year old has grabbed himself three goals. A goal in his debut against Parma, another in his side’s rout over Cagliari and penalty against Cesc Fabregas’ Como (Match Report ESPN). Three goals in three wins.

Interestingly Lukaku has actually provided more assists in those five games than goals, contributing with four assists so far this term.

He created two in that thumping of Cagliari. His first he unselfishly laid off to Giovanni Di Lorenzo on the edge of the penalty area. The second was a sublime pass with the outside of his left foot into the path of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.

Romelu would then provide another two assists in his side’s 3-1 victory over Serie A new boys Como two weeks ago. In that fixture Lukaku came deep to then help the ball into the box for fellow summer signing Scott McTominay. He made an almost identical play to set up David Neres in the second half.

This early form from the big Belgian is showing why Conte has so much faith in the forward.

His all round attacking play has been tremendous for his new team. He’s not scared to go deep and get the ball with his back to goal. He can often find himself on the right flank and his directness with the ball on the wing will often unsettle opponents. His intelligence can no longer be questioned as his vision and passing ability have shown to be a great strength for him so far this season too. His movement into deeper or wider positions has allowed the likes of Kvaratskhelia, McTominay and Matteo Politano to get into more space and into dangerous positions ahead of the centre forward.

Moving into that number ten role and out onto a wing also proves that Romelu is a willing soldier who will act out Conte’s instructions to the letter and that he’s not lacking in work ethic either.

Romelu Lukaku has recently praised Conte’s influence on his teams (Via Football Italia):

“The beautiful thing about him is that he’s really the right one, I think the way he coaches is great. The way he blends the team.”

The former Chelsea and Man United man is always at his best when he’s got a good understanding with his coach and no boss understands Lukaku more than his current gaffer.

This still isn’t peak Lukuku either, let’s not forget that the striker didn’t have a proper preseason and didn’t arrive until his club’s third league fixture of the campaign.

Antonio Conte has brought a feel good factor back to the giants of Campania and a lot of that is down to his understanding of star striker Romelu Lukaku and getting the most out of the hitman. Napoli currently sit at the top of the Serie A table and could prove to be major title challengers as long as Lukaku continues to play with this supreme confidence.

Alessandro Bastoni: Inter Milan’s Playmaking Centre-Back

Inter Milan have a unique and wonderful talent in centre-back Alessandro Bastoni.

The twenty five year old often starts games as the Nerazzurri’s left sided defender in a back three. But the Italian international will rarely stick to that role when the Serie A champions have the ball.

Bastoni is very comfortable with the ball at his feet, he’ll often surge forward and can retain the ball in crowded areas. He also possesses particularly good vision and the ability put in wonderful crosses and great passes into the opposition’s penalty area.

In Inter’s recent 3-2 win over Torino (Match Report ESPN) this past weekend, highlighted all of Alessandro’s distinctive attacking qualities.

A quick look at the defender’s heat map will show you that he loves charging forward. Bastoni spent more time during the game as either a marauding full-back or deep-laying midfielder. Having an extra man in midfield allows Inter Milan to win the battle in the engine room and it confuses opponents to see the big centre-half help dictate things from a midfield position.

On the twenty-fifth minute Bastoni delivered a delightful left footed ball into the area for forward Marcus Thuram to steer in with his head. The cross was expertly played in with accuracy and at the right speed, it was a pass that a young David Beckham would have been proud of!

Inter boss Simone Inzaghi gives his defenders so much freedom to pop up anywhere on the park. Both Bastoni and central defensive partner Francesco Acerbi played prominent roles in getting Thuram his second goal of the match. Alessandro Bastoni played a one two with his fellow centre-back and this time it was Acerbi on the left who produced a fine cross for the hitman to finish once again with his head.

In the win over Il Toro, Bastoni made 105 passes and was successful with 95% of those passes. In total he had 123 touches of the ball, with only creative Turkish star Hakan Çalhanoğlu boasting more.

The defender’s constant bursts forward can also give more opportunities to others within the team to shine. For instance it can allow left-back Federico Dimarco to push even further forward and not just on the wing. Fellow Azzurri star Dimarco has scored 12 times in 105 league games for Internazionale and a big part of him getting into the box will be due to Bastoni taking over the left wing-back slot. Alessandro’s marauding also creates some space in slightly deeper positions for gifted midfielders Nicolo Barella and Çalhanoğlu to exploit.

It should be noted that Alessandro Bastoni can also standout with his defensive duties.

Italian defensive legend Giorgio Chiellini heaped praise on Bastoni (Source One Football):

“I know Alessandro well, he is one of the strongest central defenders around and for me, he is among the best in the world.”

The centre-back is a solid unit and very strong in the air. Being an intelligent player Alessandro can read the game well and that is key in his ability to win interceptions. He can win his fair of challenges and has the pace to get back and recover when needed.

Alessandro is a real leader on the pitch and leads by example, whether that’s from a defensive point of view or whenever he breaks the lines upfield.

The Italian is simply a gifted all rounder and making the attacking centre-back position an exciting trend that will keeps those watching enthralled!

Napoli’s Scott McTominay Shines In Serie A Debut

Copyright – @en_sscnapoli

Scott McTominay was thrown into the deep end as he made his first start for Napoli in their recent away trip against Juventus.

The Serie A clash didn’t seem to phase the Scottish internationalist. Napoli boss Antonio Conte decided to change his formation to a 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 and give Scott a prominent role as an attacking threat sitting behind main striker Romelu Lukaku.

After the 0-0 draw with Juve, Conte explained his tactical tweaks via Football Italia:

“The idea came to me because on the last day of the transfer market we got McTominay and Gilmour, plus brought Folorunsho back into the squad. The midfield then became a pretty strong group of players and we had to make the most of that,”

“We had already started working on it last week against Cagliari, alternating between the systems, and 3-4-2-1 will be useful, but I also concentrated on this tactic. It fits this team, they can do it, let’s say I was a little concerned about our defending with this approach, but we did very well.”

This shows that McTominay offers the Partenopei something different in the middle of the park and that he already has the trust of his new manager.

The twenty-seven year old looked particularly dangerous in the open yet extremely tactical first half. He was direct and powerful. That front foot mindset unsettled his opponents. His shot from outside the box was spilled initially by goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio and proved that the attacking midfielder was a threat that couldn’t be ignored.

The more he works alongside the likes of Lukaku, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Matteo Politano, David Neres and Giacomo Raspadori the better understanding he’ll develop with the exciting forwards at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. The more he plays in Italy’s top flight the quicker he will understand when will be best for him to push forward with this late runs that has seen him become a regular goalscorer in international football with Scotland.

I have no doubts that with Scott’s technique and physique that he’ll be a real handful in opposition penalty areas up and down Serie A. He completed his two dribbling attempts and won his aerial battle too, Conte will hope that he can see his new combative midfielder do more of those as he settles in to life in Naples.

McTominay lasted the full 90 minutes, which again shows the trust he has already gained from his manager, and his passing was pretty decent too. He completed 81% of his 21 passes, although he didn’t have as much of an influence in the second half as both sides started to really cancel each other out. But you can never accuse the new number eight of going into hiding, he has a terrific work ethic and is always a willing runner for his teammates.

I am extremely excited to see how Scott McTominay grows as a footballer under Antonio Conte at Napoli. I think the move should be great for all sides and this first start shows that the Scotland star can really make a strong impact in Italy’s top tier.

 

AC Milan Need To Define Distracting Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s Role

It’s been a bit of an inauspicious start for AC Milan this season.

The Italian giants are lying in tenth place in Serie A after four games, with their only win coming against newly promoted Venezia last weekend. But any ideas that they could build on that victory were soon dashed as they were humbled 3-1 at home in the Champions League by English side Liverpool.

That has led to reports in Italy suggesting that the new Rossoneri boss Paulo Fonseca needs to beat fierce rivals and current Italian champions Inter this Sunday in the derby game to keep his job (Source Football Italia).

While Milan’s performances haven’t been great and that will always fall at the door of the manager, I think the club’s owner’s RedBird Capital Partners need to examine the role Zlatan Ibrahimovic currently has within the structure of AC Milan.

It’s all a bit mirky when you try and see what the great Swede’s actual role is. He’s called a ‘Senior Adviser’ but is he answering to RedBird direct or to AC Milan? A quick look at the club’s management page tells you that he’s not on the club’s board.

Yet the retired legendary striker seems to become increasingly more prominent at the club. During the summer he would go on the US tour and do a lot of media commitments for Milan. He would seemingly engineer himself into transfer deals and has held numerous meetings with the first team squad at the team’s training ground Milanello.

In a recent interview Ibrahimovic stated (Via ESPN):

“I am the boss and I am in charge, all the others work for me.”

Zlatan is fast becoming a distraction and he continues to blur the lines in what he’s actually responsible for at the San Siro.

It can’t help Paulo Fonseca if he’s being undermined by Zlatan Ibrahimovic, whether than be in the media or in the dressing room. If they Serie A club were to sack the Portuguese coach then what top class manager will want to come in and work alongside Zlatan Ibrahimovic given what’s happened in recent months?

If the 42 year old wants to be a manager or a head coach then great, take your badges and learn the trade on the training ground. If you want to be a Sporting Director then again learn that trade and work under a recognised Sporting Director or at the very least commit yourself to that role!

I don’t believe Milan have properly replaced the iconic Paolo Maldini who was a technical director at the clib between 2018 and 2023. Maldini had a vision and AC Milan looked stable with him steering the ship in the background. In comparison Ibrahimovic doesn’t seem to have a longterm strategy and is more interested in bigging up Brand Zlatan and telling everyone he’s the boss.

i don’t think the season is over for the Rossoneri, I still think they’ve got a pretty decent squad that could challenge at the top of Italy’s top tier but I don’t think that will happen unless they relook at the structure of the club and that includes the roles of Fonseca and Zlatan.

Italian Scouts Should Be Checking Out Young Scot Lennon Miller

We all know that Italian clubs have been actively scouting the Scottish Premiership for the past few years. They know that there’s talent to be had in Scotland and that our market represents good value for money.

With that in mind, I wondered who could be currently catching the eye of Italian scouts within Scottish football.

One name really does stand out and that’s Motherwell’s Lennon Miller.

At just seventeen years of age, Miller already plays with the maturity of a much older player.

Lennon has made thirty-seven first team appearances for The Steelmen. He’s a central midfielder who seems to thrive under pressure. Even against the likes of Celtic and Rangers, Miller has remained composed and astute with his passing. In tight situations the middle-man always seems to find away out of trouble and getting the ball to a teammate. It also helps that he has wonderful close control, which buys him time and wins him plenty of freekicks.

The youngster also possesses a fine range when it comes to his passing ability, often he will create chances for Motherwell with a lofted direct ball over the top and out to the wings. These passes break the lines, stretch the opposition and get his team on the front foot in dangerous positions. Intelligently the teenager is always quick to look up when he get the ball, have the vision to see where it should go and then make the pass.

Miller also has a good engine and won’t mind getting back into good defensive positions. He can battle tenaciously in the middle of the park and win the ball back for his side too. Again he shows that he is an intelligent player in defensive situations as he can anticipate interceptions with ease at times.

As well as being adept in playing in the engine-room the young man is also capable of playing on the righthand side of midfield and in a more attacking position centrally.

His impressive performances for Motherwell last season won Lennon international acclaim, he won his first under-21 cap earlier this year. He recently stated he would love to play for Scotland but knows that will only happen as long as he plays well week in and week out for his club (Source: Daily Record):

“I’d love to represent my country, anywhere, never mind here at Hampden, but that comes after my focus on Motherwell.”

“It’s obviously a big goal, I’ve played for under-21s in the summer and it’s something I want to do. I want to represent my country and hopefully I can do that.”

Obviously anytime a talented young player pops up in Scotland, who doesn’t play for either of the Glasgow giants, then they will get linked with the aforementioned big two. We’ve already seen those links pop up in the Scottish newspapers. Teams in the English Premier League have also been credited with an interest in the exciting midfield prospect.

But we all know now that those two destinations aren’t the be all and end all for Scottish talent looking to fulfil their potential on the football field.

Italy could prove to be a great platform for a player like Lennon Miller. They look after young stars and let them thrive. They also love a technically gifted midfielder.

Back in the 1990s a certain Paul Lambert moved to the continent from Fir Park, he would go on and become a Champions League winner with Borussia Dortmund. Now I am not saying that Lennon could do the exact same as Lambert but he could make a similar trip to Europe and shine in a top league like Serie A or the Bundesliga.

While I don’t think Motherwell will be in a rush to sell their prized asset, it won’t cost the world to get them around the negotiating table. I’d guess the Lanarkshire club would want to bring in a record transfer fee but that would only mean breaking the £3m (€3.5m) fee that Celtic paid Motherwell for David Turnbull back in 2020.

By offering say €5m in a structured deal, I think an Italian club or any club for that matter would be getting a real gem of a player who will, in my opinion, only get better and will see his value astronomically rise once he proves himself in a new team.

Billy Gilmour Would Shine At Napoli

Napoli have recently been linked with a move for Brighton & Hove Albion star Billy Gilmour. The Football Italia website states that the Italian side are ready to make an another approach this week.

I still think The Partenopei will need to bid more than the suggested €12m plus add ons to secure the twenty-three old’s signature but I do believe the Scottish international would flourish in Serie A if a move to Naples were to materialise.

Obviously being a Scotsman with a great deal of interest in Calcio, I would personally be very excited if the transfer were to be completed.

Recent history has shown us that Scots can settle in Italy and that our players can definitely adapt to their style of football.

Liam Henderson is about to spend his sixth season in the Italian leagues. Aaron Hickey had two successful years at Bologna before making a £17m move to Premier League outfit Brentford in 2022 (Source BBC Sport). Left-back Josh Doig has played for both Hellas Verona and Sassuolo, and he could move to a third Italian club this summer with Yahoo Sports linking him with Torino.

Bologna realised that the Scottish market was a lucrative one and after selling Hickey they plucked Lewis Ferguson from Aberdeen. The central midfielder has been superb for the Rossoblù. Last term the twenty-four year old was instrumental in helping secure Champions League football at Bologna for the first time in the Emilia-Romagna side’s history. His form, before suffering from a season-ending knee injury, was superb with the club captain winning the prestigious midfielder of the year award in Serie A.

While these players all came via their homeland in Scotland, Billy would be arriving from the English Premier League hence why it would cost considerably more to get him in the door. But he is also, in my opinion, a much better technical player.

His ability to make cute, smart passes especially in tight spaces would be well respected by new Napoli boss Antonio Conte. Much has been made that Conte and Gilmour were at Chelsea together but I think it’s too strong to say they worked together. Gilmour didn’t get any first team minutes until after the Italian gaffer left Stamford Bridge but I’m guessing many a Chelsea youth coach would’ve been in his ear talking about the talented midfielder.

Billy is in the mould of a regista. He can dictate proceedings and play the ball between the lines quickly. Last season, Gilmour played thirty times in the Premier League and had a 92.2% passing success rate. In the Europa League his passing success rate was sitting at 91.2%. On average he was making over 68 passing per domestic game. Those passing stats are better than what any Napoli player managed last year in Italy’s top flight. That kind of player has found favour with Conte in the past with Andrea Pirlo at Juventus being the obvious example.

I think Billy Gilmour would be extremely motived to play under Conte after he flourished working under fellow Italian coach Roberto De Zerbi at Brighton.

Billy stated this time playing for De Zerbi (BBC Sport):

“When I came back for preseason he was proper on me,”

“Wanted more, standards high, how quick to pass, less touches, everything, he was totally on me every day. But it was good.”

Conte is another boss known for having very high standards.

Also who wouldn’t want to play in Southern Italy and in a footballing city like Naples? Legends of the game like Careca, Gianfranco Zola, Marek Hamsik and obviously the enormously gifted and beloved Diego Armando Maradona have all played for The Little Donkeys. It would of course be an honour for the boy from Ardrossan to follow in such illustrious footsteps.

But while I’ve given the reason why Napoli would want Billy Gilmour and why the player himself might want to sample life in Serie A, it’s also hard to see why Brighton & Hove Albion would want to sell the midfield maestro.

He was a key figure for them last term and he has improved every year he’s been with the English south-coast side. At just twenty-three his best years are without doubt in front of him and as canny transfer operators I’d imagine Brighton will think they could get more for him in the future.

The Scottish internationalist has two years left on his current deal and if he were to disclose that he wants to leave the Amex Stadium, then that might get Brighton around the negotiating table but €12m still seems pretty low. According to Tranfremakrt, Gilmour should be valued at closer to the €18m mark.

Speculation has been rife all summer that Napoli will sell star striker Victor Osimhen and that could give them a fighting fund to purchase Gilmour as well as an Osimhen replacement in the form of Romelu Lukaku but any potential Osimhen deal has been dragging on for a while now.

This transfer saga regarding Billy Gilmour and Napoli is certainly an intriguing one. I’m very interested in what will eventually happen. But I am in no doubt that the 2024/25 season will be Billy’s best yet, no matter where he’s playing.

Serie A – The Great North American Dream!

Getting back into Italian football in the last twelve or so months, I have noticed that the Italian top flight has been embraced by a greater number of North Americans.

Footballers have been making the crossing to the peninsula for a few decades now. Alexi Lalas called Padova home for a few years in the 1990s, Michael Bradley played for both Chievo and Roma and Sergino Dest called Milan home for a season.

Today we have Tim Weah and Winston McKennie at Juventus, Christian Pulisic has been hhining at AC Milan alongside Yanus Musah and Tanner Tessmann might be a wanted man but he’s currently still at Venezia.

But more intriguing to me has been the influx of North American owners into the league.

Both Milan sides are being run by huge American investment firms. ACF Fiorentina are owned Rocco Commisso, who was born in Italy but made his fortune in the States. Bologna are run by Canadian businessman Joey Saputo. Europa League winners have a majority stakeholder in New Yorker Stephen Pagliuca. US Business tycoon Dan Friedkin is the owner and president of AS Roma. 777 Partners, a private investment firm based out of Miami, have the Genoa CFC within their portfolio. Kyle Krause and his family company own and run Parma. Finance expert Duncan L. Niederauer is currently at the helm at Venezia.

As you can see quite a few of these names suggest an Italian heritage has played a major part in these men and companies focusing on Italian football. Italian immigrants often took traditions and loves with them to the new land; like their homeland’s cuisine, the sense of family and the beloved calcio!

Kids would learn about the game of soccer from parents and grandparents and they hear how Italy ruled the world on those football fields.

That deep connection would definitely have driven a few North Americans to the old country. But these are generally very smart business folk, they don’t just spend dollars on a nostalgic project.

Italian football clubs would also represent decent value, especially compared to clubs from other big leagues like the Premier League, La Liga and the Bundesliga. Now obviously the ownership model in German isn’t super attractive to buyers who want complete control of a football club but all of these countries have better paid TV deals and that pushes the price up when it comes to buying one of their top flight sides. Look at England, you are now seeing a Billionaire putting in cash just to get control of the football business at Manchester United not for complete control – for many that isn’t viable or affordable.

You can pick up an Italian club and even with that cheaper price you can still get a global brand and a team that has a long history within the game plus a decent fanbase. You’re also getting operations that are fit for business when it comes to training facilities, footballing expertise and a sports science programme that was viewed as world class for many years.

There also seems to be an easier avenue to compete with the bigger clubs and create new successes with your new toy. Serie A has had four different winners in the past five seasons with Inter, AC Milan, Juventus and Napoli all taking the Scudetto. Seven different teams have qualified for the Champions League spots since 2020, Italian teams record in Europe has been very good recently and that has seen them receive five spots for this season’s Champions League. Last term Atalanta won the Europa League. Roma won the very first Conference League in the two season following the Gaillorosso’s triumph Fiorentina have been the competition’s runners up in both occasions. Getting more teams into Europe and doing well the these elite continental competitions the big swell these owners will see in their coffers.

Interestingly these extremely rich owners don’t get it all their own way in Italy and there is one big battle that they still need to overcome if they’re going to fully realise their potential income revenues with these Italian institutions.

Historically Italian football stadia is owned by the local council or municipality. Thus meaning that the clubs themselves don’t get the greater share of matchday revenue and will pay rent to play in a stadium that’s probably in need of restoration work.

Lots of the North American affiliated teams have looked into either buying their current homes or building their own new stadia. It hasn’t been an easy process at all.

Both Milan sides have floated leaving the grand old San Siro. The Municipality of Venice owns Venezia’s base, the Genoese equivalent owns the fantastic Stadio Luigi Ferraris and the same goes for Parma.

Ever since taking control of the club in 2019, Fiorentina’s owner Rocco Commisso has being fighting with the local council to either build his own stadium or renovate the Stadio Franchi to suit the La Viola’s needs. The municipality have started their own renovations and Commisso met that with anger and he tried to halt the work by taking the owners to court.

AS Roma seem to have been a bit more diplomatic with the mayor of Rome as they seek to leave the government owned Stadio Olimpico. Just this week it was announced that positive talks were held regarding Roma building a new stadium in the Eternal City with Ryan Friedkin stating:

It was an honor to meet today with the Mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, and present our vision for the new stadium. This extraordinary stadium is not only a new home for AS Roma and its fans but also a landmark for all the citizens of Rome.

Atalanta purchased their ground in 2017 and major reconstruction  begun at the Gewiss Stadium in Bergamo back in 2019 and is now near completion. Both the Curva Nord and Curva Sud have been massively upgraded and that should see the capacity leap from 19,000 to around 25,000.

When you walk around the Gewiss stadium as I did back in March you can see why the owners of Italian clubs want to have their own stadiums and why they don’t want to deal with Municipality owned grounds. If needs be you can up the amount of seats in the stadium, upping the tickets you can sell. You can also cater the way you like to your well established audience. North America is known for providing some of the best fan experiences in the whole world and by offering those better atmospheres and facilities you get people coming more regularly and spending more time and money in your establishments. At the Gewiss stadium you notice that there’s a number of bars, restaurants and shops at the facility. Instead of being the renters you now get multiple rents from other businesses.

Athletic Club in Spain should be the blueprint teams in Italy should be looking to follow if they can get their hands on their own stadia. The La Liga side have an amazing museum, offer a wonderful stadium tour, they have a club shop on the premises, it has a cafe that opens at breakfast and serves drinks throughout the day and they also boast a Michelin Starred restaurant. The San Mamés makes money everyday of the week and particularly on match days.

It’s crazy to think that quite a few Italian teams don’t have club shops at the stadium in which they play and can’t offer stadium tours to the tourists that flock to their historic grounds.

I am extremely interested to see where we go from here, in terms of North Americans owning Italian football clubs.

Do they end up leaving because they just can’t find common ground with the bureaucrats that simply block them at every turn to gain complete control of the famous Italian institutions? Or can they work together with those in power and create a new harmony that could see Serie A truly flourish again and compete financially with Europe’s other top leagues?

Jonathan David – It Wasn’t Meant To Be This Way

 

In August 2020, when Lille OSC spent $35 million to bring Jonathan David across the border from Belgian club Gent (Via Sports Illustrated), no one would have predicted four years later the 24-year-old would be potentially set to leave the Ligue 1 club for free.

A move which goes against everything LOSC’s well oiled transfer policy has become famous for.

Before David, there was Victor Osimhen. Bought from Charleroi for €22.4m and sold to Napoli just 12 months later for a fee close to €80m. The move for the Nigerian striker was only made possible due to the sale of Nicholas Pepe to Arsenal for again around €80m. His €18m move from Angers made the Northern French club another €60m

When you can count a profit of €120m on two forwards, it feels a safer bet to make David the most expensive Canadian footballer to date.

Back in midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, no one at Les Dogues would have ever imagined he would end up potentially making a huge loss.

What happened?

For KAA Gent, David played 50 games in the Juplier Pro League, scoring 26 times and adding 12 assists. Rather than playing as a lone frontman, the young attacker was used in various roles within their 4-3-1-2 system.

Either deployed as the No.10 behind the attackers – in what Football Manager players would now know as the Shadow Striker – or as one of the two forwards.

Watching highlights from the 2020 season, Lille fans would be forgiven in not recognising his performances. Rarely is he the main focus of the frontline. Counter-attacks would see him making runs from deep, or peeling right or left off the main striker.

Yet, they’ll see traits which have brought him success at the Stade Pierre Mauroy. The knack of being in the right place at the right time, instinctively finishing when chances fall to him.

After making the big money move to France’s top flight, the jury was most definitely out as David failed to score in his first ten games. This is not what the fans were used to from previous striking heroes like Pepe and Osimhem and the murmurs of discontent had begun.

Scoring the fourth in a 4-0 win over Lorient in November got him off the mark. For a player under pressure, he showed good composure to take a touch before applying the finish.

Twelve more goals would follow in the 2020/21 campaign as Lille would shock everyone to win the Ligue 1 title over Paris Saint-Germain. David firing Les Dogues ahead in their title winning victory away at Angers SCO on the final day.

Under Christophe Galtier, the team played 4-4-2, with the Canadian paired with Burak Yilmaz, the 35-year-old journeyman striker who had the season of his life. The partnership was ideal. Both liked to drop and link up play, with the Turk the bigger of the two also acting as more of a target-man in leaving David to take similar positions to his time in Gent.

His 13 strikes were perfectly complemented by Burak’s 16 goals and five assists, culminating in a perfect storm for the unlikely Champions of France.

Galtier left almost as soon as the title party was over. Jocelyn Gourvennec would take over the reins and the drop off would be vast.

Whatever magic formula the title winning coach had sprinkled on Burak left with him, a year on, he would only score seven times and Lille would finish 10th in Ligue 1 despite Jonathan David’s 15 league goals.

The 22-year-old was now, more often than not, the leading striker.

A highlight of the season was a double at home to Marseille. The first he forced home from close range after the OM defence failed to clear Zeki Celik’s cross. Deep in injury time he sealed the win, doing what he does best, a first-time finish from Timothy Weah’s left footed cross. This is when David is at his best. No time to think, showing his positioning ability and putting away a chance from close range.

As Lille struggled, David struggled. In the last 20 games of the season, the striker only scored in three fixtures. This is not what the club had paid €30m for, and around the time Lille’s strikers would be gaining attention from would-be suitors, all was quiet on the Northern front.

Fonseca Factor

It was no surprise to anyone when Gourvennec was removed and former Shakhtar Donetsk and Roma coach Paulo Fonseca was brought in.

On the surface, the 2022/23 season was better for all involved. David finished with 24 league goals and Lille finished fifth. Just missing out on fourth after drawing 1-1 away to Troyes on the final day.

Although there is a skill to scoring from the penalty spot. The 10 penalties David scored somewhat inflated his scoring prowess. In the social media world, where tiktok is king, it is easy to report someone’s numbers without context and this was beginning to come apparent with the narrative around the Canadian forward.

Using Understat.com, David finished fourth in Ligue 1 for xG with 25.03. Just behind Kylian Mbappe on 27.80, Lyon’s Alexandre Lacazette (27.38) and Florin Balogun at Reims (26.04). However, when you look at Non-Penalty xG (NPxG) it drops to 16.66 and the 23-year-old was seventh in the league.

The biggest criticism towards the forward is the amount of 1v1 chances, or opportunities from open play in which you can’t help but thinking he should do better. Understat plots 17 chances from open play, inside the box, in which the striker misses the target completely. A further 16 which were blocked and a whopping 26 saved by goalkeepers.

Mapping the saved shots, you’ll see a huge increase in the xG, too many in the 0.30 or above area.

Once, in a conversation with a scout, a comment which always stuck in my mind when judging a striker is to look where the shots are placed. Is the striker finding the corners? Or is there an element of fortune to the goals finding the back of the net, or perhaps bad goalkeeping etc?

In the past two seasons, those words continue to nag away whenever watching Jonathan David fail to score for Lille. Despite his 43 goals in two seasons, the want to see him leave the club grows stronger every day.

It feels ridiculous to be writing this in a critical way when only two strikers in Lille’s history have scored more than the Canadian. His 86 strikes put him behind only Jean Baratte on 97 and the 112 from Andre Strappe – both born in the 1920s.

The only modern day player on the list a casual fan would recognise is Eden Hazard with 50 goals. Nicholas Pepe, Nolan Roux and Yohan Cabaye scored 37. Moussa Sow and Gervinho finished with 36 and former Chelsea forward Salomon Kalou rounds out the club’s top 30 with 34.

There is one huge factor in why David is so high up the list. The 2024/25 campaign will be his fifth at the club. Osimhen got one year, Pepe two, even the likes of Sow, Divock Origi or Peter Odemwingie weren’t around for more than two full seasons to match those kinds of numbers.

It is something which is evident in most Ligue 1 clubs, whether it’s a player or a manager. Either you catch the eye and your’re snapped up within two seasons, or you’ve shown you aren’t good enough and are shipped out.

A striker playing for five seasons at Lille is unheard of, especially in the era of moneyball, when the club buys a potential talent and then sells on for a profit.

€30m was always a lot of money for the club to spend on someone, but at the time the people in charge would have been confident in at least doubling their return. Now, with just 12 months left on his deal, there isn’t going to be a good outcome for Lille.

Either, David moves for €30m this summer – which seems to be scuppered by his agent demanding around €10m for himself (Source Give Me Sport)- and Lille break even. Or the 24-year-old spends another season in Ligue 1 and leaves for free next summer.

In the last 10 years, LOSC has been known as a selling club. You can add Andre Onana, Yves Bissouma, Carlos Baleba and Rafa Leao to the long list of players the club has made a huge profit on.

Scouts are definitely watching Lille. There is absolutely no chance Jonathan David has gone under the radar.

With so many eyes on the club, you have to wonder why his 71 league goals in four seasons hasn’t been enough to spark a bidding war.

Or is it that scouts know more than people posting pure stats on social media graphics? The eyes don’t lie.

Question marks must exist over his ability to lead the line, especially when so many clubs don’t play with two strikers anymore. When chances are at a premium, can you rely on someone who struggles in 1v1 situations?

There is no doubting his work rate. He leads the line well and he willingly runs the channels. His work rate and desire to be in the right place when the ball is in and around the box is great. In a results business, when the margins between success and failure are so small, that might not be enough.

In the right environment, with support around him or a proper no.9 strike partner, David could still thrive. Especially if in 12 months time he is a free, low risk, signing for someone.

For Lille, despite his goals, it has to go down as a failure financially off the pitch, and a disappointment on it.

Written by Andrew Gibney, former French Football expert and all round ok guy!

Getting Back Into Football, Writing And Specifically Italian Football

I have just dusted off my keyboard (literally).

It astounds me that I haven’t written a blog on here since 2022. There are numerous reasons for this; my love for modern football has dipped, I probably felt a bit burnt out after writing prolifically for over a decade and my time became scarce as I became a full time bookseller.

Another big reason was my mother’s death in August 2023.

I have always written because I loved to write, I didn’t have any real ambitions in doing it professionally. I did have a few different writing gigs in the past but they were always as a freelancer and I was given a lot of autonomy. Personally I don’t believe I’m a great writer, I feel I am a great ideas man and I have the ability to find points to cover that might not come naturally to others. My mum was always my biggest fan though. She would read most of my stuff and critique it. She didn’t have a passion for football but she loved that I loved it. She also enjoyed the fact I could express my passion through the means of writing. I believe subconsciously her death kind of also felt like a natural time to give up, as it was the death of my audience.

That kind of gives you a glimpse into my mindset. I’ll always put hurdles in front of myself. I would get stressed because I wasn’t getting enough numbers, I would berate myself for not being good enough and I would look back at chances missed when the blog was at it’s peak. Now if you go on social media you’ll find a host of writers or content producers will say the exact same thing, as a society we are probably too hard on ourselves and struggle to just enjoy the moments that we are in.

In the last twelve or so months, I have done a lot of reflection and I am at a point now where I am thinking ‘just do what makes you happy’. Writing about football made me happy and just typing on the keyboard feels like a cathartic exercise.

Also in the same timeframe, I have rediscovered a love for the beautiful game. I especially like travelling and have visited Italy, Spain and Germany in 2024 to take in games in each of those countries.

Turning forty, meant that my brother took me to Italy to catch a Serie A game in March as an early birthday present. My earliest footballing memories stem from my first World Cup, which was Italia 90. Due to that I chose to go to Genoa to see Genoa CFC versus AC Monza at the iconic Stadio Luigi Ferraris.

It turned out to be a classic encounter with the away side winning 3-2. The atmosphere was electric, the goals were stunning and I felt at home.

Then in May, my actual birthday month, my wonderful wife took me to see Real Sociedad take on Valencia. That too was a great experience, I got to see a Scot (Kieran Tierney) play in a foreign league and once again the atmosphere in the terraces was tremendous.

Earlier this month we travelled over to Munich and were lucky enough to catch the Round of 16 tie between The Netherlands and Romania. It was another superb game with a joyous spirit was released from the crowd.

Those three games made me fall in love with the game again.

As I mentioned earlier, the Serie A game felt like me coming home.  That match in Genoa allowed me to go back to being a kid in the 1990s who would watch Italian football on Channel 4, who would buy the Football Italia magazine and who would almost blow up a video recorder because he rewatched the best goals of Serie A season 1990-91 so many times.

In that period I felt the most alive when it comes to football. I wanted to learn everything I could about the game in the peninsula, even though it was just a two and a bit hour flight away places like Florence, Milan and Perugia seemed like they were on a different planet!

Before being overrun by the internet, the world did seem to be a much bigger place. Italy and Italian football to a Glaswegian kid just seemed magical. It’s where all the best players gravitated towards, the football kits looked special and the stadiums were exciting and unique.

Now over the years, I have always kept an eye on the goings on in Serie A but never to the same degree as I did in the 90s. So I’ve challenged myself to try and immerse myself in Calcio and learn all I can about the current game in Italy and look back at some of that nostalgia that made me fall in love with it in the first place.

Along the way I hope to go to a few games there and write more and more about Italian football. I doubt I’ll be as prolific as I used to be with my writing but the aim is to just write when I am passionate about something. I hope to learn more about the Italian culture, history and it’s current affairs along the way too.

Ultimately I am doing this for myself. To enjoy football once again and to learn and adapt to what’s new within the game in 2024.

 

In tribute to my biggest fan!